When An Spidéal ‘keeper Maghnus Breathnach gallivanted up the pitch, only to be turned over by some tenacious tackling, Maskey collected possession and let fly from 50 metres.

The ball soared high into the air and was destined for one place – An Spidéal’s unguarded net.

Maskey’s memorable major put the Hightown Road men 3-4 to 0-4 ahead.

Although An Spidéal would hit the next three points to narrow the deficit to 3-4 to 0-7, the Galway men were a beaten docket after Maskey’s wonder goal four minutes before the interval.

Taking a break from signing autographs, the club’s reluctant legend said: “I’ve never scored a goal like that and I probably won’t again. Somebody came over to me and showed me it on a WhatsApp video. The ‘keeper fumbled it and I just said I’d give it a go.

“It’s unbelievable,” Maskey added. “I knew at half-time that we were in a good place mentally and physically. We went out in the second half and just kept up the pace. What a feeling.”

In the eighth minute, the fleet-footed Kristian Healy netted after a flowing move involving Gibson and Nagle, and 12 minutes later Ruairi Scott grabbed St Enda’s second of three first-half majors despite a gallant attempt from Breathnach.

Antaine O Laoi and Cormac Lee grabbed seven frees between them for An Spidéal but each score was token resistance.

The Ulstermen had further goal chances in the second half, with Eastwood hitting the post and Peter Healy watching his effort come off the crossbar.

A minor quibble was that St Enda’s could have been more clinical in front of the posts at times, but they probably knew their opponents didn’t have enough quality to hurt them in the second half.

The Connacht men persisted in running the ball and rarely, if ever, kicked it into their three-man full-forward line.

They found a couple of openings at various stages but they simply couldn’t live with St Enda’s ferocious tackling.

In the closing stages, Ciaran O Laoi was red-carded for a wild tackle on Peter Healy.

In his first year in charge at St Enda’s, Fitzsimons has delivered county and provincial silverware and guided the club to their first-ever All-Ireland final against Kerry’s Kilcummin on February 9 at Croke Park.

Afterwards, Fitzsimons said: “The travelling support here was fantastic. It’s a super club. The boys went out there and expressed themselves for most of the game. It’s good to see that because the last thing you want to do is come down here and not perform. That’s all we asked and that’s what we got today.